Various chemical and molecular biology techniques use emulsions to provide isolated volumes of reactants. For example, in polymerization techniques, emulsions are used in emulsion polymerization and high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) polymerization to provide limited volumes in which polymerization occurs. In molecular biology, emulsions are used in emulsion polymerase chain reactions (PCR) to provide isolated volumes in which PCR can occur. In particular, methods of forming particles enhanced with copies of target polynucleotides can utilize emulsions to encouraging a 1:1 ratio of the target polynucleotide and a polymeric particle within an isolated volume, thus producing a polymeric particle that includes copies of one target polynucleotide.
In such techniques, once the reaction has taken place, the emulsion is broken to collect the products of the reaction. In particular, the emulsion is broken and the phases are separated to allow for separation of the desired reaction products that reside within one of the phases.
However, conventional emulsion breaking techniques either utilize volatile organic compounds or utilize sulfonate surfactants. Volatile organic compounds, such as butanol, are flammable and can be irritants to users. As such, when volatile organic compounds are utilized to break emulsion, such emulsion breaking is performed in a hood, limiting access to the emulsion and increasing the cost of such emulsion breaking techniques. In general, sulfonate-based emulsion breaking techniques are less effective than the volatile organic compound techniques, frequently resulting in incomplete separation of the reaction products.